This one came pretty much out of the blue, but it did get me just as sky-high.
Some reviews might mislead you to believe that it’s just another one in the line of countless power-pop wannabees, but it just has to be heard to be believed that, even though it really is another B-bands inspired guy delivering his own vision of the heard-it-all-before, the songs are so damn catchy that you won’t mind getting back to them for the second, third, fourth and whoknowswhichever season again and again.
The opening Everything To Everyone is not the one to assure you of all the above, though it does serve as a good warm up, with it’s power-pop-through-’70s’ Stones-rawk-out, before you get all hooked on the full-blown pop perfection of Love In London.
When The Wall Came Down is a moderndaze take on a late ‘60s Beatlish balladery by way of the Scottish soulmates, The Diggers, and on Sammy, he gets as Brill Building serious as possible, transcribing the best of Bacharach, Randy Newman or Carole King, as it might’ve been done by Costello.
Save Me From Love takes it back to the Beatlisms again, sounding kinda like a more eclectic Oasis, the pair of Beautiful As You and Couch In Montmatre add a touch of light country-ish Americana, while Christine might be considered an upgraded power-pop companion to the opening tune, with an additional cool Britsikey middle eight.
In spite of all this, if the world doesn’t happen to share my enthusiasm for James Cooper, there’s always his other craft he might turn to, which is sleeve-designing, with a couple of customers already under his belt that you might know, such as Paul McCartney or David Bowie …
[Released by The Paisley Pop Label 2005]
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